The three men that could be champions -- Top Fuel's Tony Schumacher, Funny Car's John Force, and Pro Stock's Greg Anderson -- scored big wins in "Big D" Sunday at the 20th anniversary O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec. Schumacher and Anderson made clinching a championship a mere formality with their victories, while Force moved from 43 points back to 36 ahead in the chase for his 14th POWERade title.

Schumacher has now been to five finals in a row, winning the last three events including the last two over red-hot Doug Herbert. After an 81-second, made-for-TV burndown, Anderson beat teammate Jason Line for his eighth victory of 2005. Force was the one making the biggest move, passing Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps on the day to move to the front of the Funny Car class with his 119th career win.

Tony Schumacher

Although they didn't have the quickest car in qualifying for the first time in seven races, Schumacher and crew chief Alan Johnson turned it on when they needed to, beating Herbert's top qualifying Snap-on rail with a 4.523 at 331.77 mph against Herbert's 4.629 at 320.05 mph.

"We all get together and give little speeches on Sunday morning to all of our guests," Schumacher said. "[Whit] Bazemore started today and he was up there talking about how there was a million ways to lose and only one way to win. He was saying how hard it is. Finally [Ron] Capps tells him to shut up. I think it started getting in his head. That's how the pressure is at this point in the year.

"My buddy rides bulls and he was second in the points and he asked me how to win it all. I told him you have to forget about the sponsors and the money and just ride that bull like you did when you were 16 and you only cared about getting on that thing and beating it.

"The pressure is obviously off us a little bit but I was right where those guys are just a few races back. I was chasing Doug Kalitta and I felt it big time. Then we got on a roll and now we're winning when we need to."

Schumacher is now 268 points ahead of Larry Dixon and 271 in front of Doug Kalitta. Schumacher only needs to show up and make one qualifying pass in Las Vegas to clinch his third POWERade championship and second in a row.

Schumacher did need a little luck to get his seventh race of the year and he got it in the quarterfinals when he smoked his tires but still managed to beat Morgan Lucas, who also lost traction. Prior to that race the reigning series champion beat Mitch King with a 4.48. In the semis, the U.S. Army dragster rolled past stablemate Melanie Troxel, who reached the semi’s for the first time since rejoining the Top Fuel wars nine races back.

Low qualifier Herbert raced to his fourth final of the season by beating Bill Ancona, Doug Kalitta, and "Hot Rod" Fuller. Herbert avoided a major disaster in the semi’s when his steering wheel came off just past the finish line. His Snap-on Tools rail made contact with the right-side retaining wall several times but the damage was superficial.

Herbert's impressive run lifted him from seventh to fifth place in the points. Schumacher merely needs to show up and make one qualifying pass in Las Vegas to clinch the 2005 championship.

John Force

Force has told anyone that would listen that the POWERade championship had to go through him. Sunday he backed up that boast by making up four rounds on his rivals and zooming into a 36-point lead in the POWERade standings. After teammates and fellow championship hopefuls Robert Hight and Eric Medlen lost in the first round, Force kept his focus and took advantage of contender and former points leader Gary Scelzi's red-light loss in the opening session and fellow frontrunner Ron Capps' tire-smoking quarterfinal loss.

The final ended up being a single when opponent Frank Pedregon encountered engine problems prior to his burnout and had to abort his attempt. It might not have mattered as Force blasted to 4.797 at 324.05 mph, the quickest pas of the day.

Motivated by a note from his racer daughter Ashley, Force cruised to his record 186th final round by dismissing Tommy Johnson Jr., Tim Wilkerson, and Tony Bartone. This was the seventh final of the year for Force. His last win came in late may in Topeka, Kan.

It wasn't pretty but Pedregon got his Toyo Tires Dodge Stratus R/T to the final round for the second time in the last four races. The part-time pro beat Mike Ashley with a 4.87, low qualifier Ron Capps with a 5.68, and Del Worsham with a 5.03. This was Pedregon's eighth career money round.

Greg Anderson

With big smiles on their faces, Anderson and Line were able to relax and have fun in the final, with each man doing everything they could to win. Apparently, each guy's strategy involved getting in the other person's head as they both lit the pre-stage bulbs and decided to wait and let the other guy stage first. After 81 seconds, team owner Ken Black finally put an end to it by walking past starter Rick Stewart and waving his drivers into the fully staged position.

When the lights flashed it was Anderson getting a two-hundredths of a second jump on his protégé, and he never relinquished the lead, going through the timers in 6.690 seconds at 206.61 mph ahead of Line's 6.713 at 206.48 mph.

"That was fun," Anderson said. "My left leg is done. Holding down the clutch pedal for that long kills you. I don't guess Jason wanted to stage. I just can't imagine this could get any better. To be in the midst of a championship chase but have enough of a cushion that Jason and I could go up there and race our hearts out for the trophy is the dream scenario.

"It feels great to be here. After the way we started the season and the struggles we had I think a lot of our competitors thought they had us. To be sitting here on the verge of winning our third championship in a row is special. I guess I'll look at things like winning three in a row and the historical significance of it when I'm old. All I think about is winning the race I'm at. I don't understand it when NASCAR guys say they want a top five finish. I'm not like that. I want the trophy every time. That's where the fun and gratification comes from."

The Summit Racing GTO teammates, who started the day first and second on the ladder, drove through their respective sides of the grid with relative ease. Anderson had a bye in Round 1 and then beat Warren Johnson and Erica Enders with a pair of 6.69s. Line trailered Vieri Gaines, Allen Johnson, and Jeg Coughlin by wide margins.

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